The Artistic Legacy of the Legend of Zelda Wind Waker

“We have something else for you today. I’d like to introduce you to a little friend of mine who you’ve all been so kind to talk so much about.”

With those words, Nintendo and legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto unveiled the then-new animated look for Link in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker at E3 2002. But as the trailer played up on the big screen, the members of the press in the crowded room watched silently before applause. Plenty of big trade show trailers and demos have received a similar polite response, but the reaction to the cel-shaded look (dubbed Cel-da by the internet community) seems tepid compared to the booming reaction to Twilight Princess in 2004. The crowd roared to life once they laid eyes on the return of adult Link, as he rode through a dark valley on horseback.

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Of course, one of the reasons fans misunderstood Wind Waker’s look was because of the an infamous Nintendo Space World Demo in 2000 – a presentation that showed adult Link and Ganon lock swords in an intense duel. But even though fans were blindsided by Wind Waker’s cartoon look and kid-friendly approach, Toon Link has carved out a special place in Nintendo history over time. This anime-inspired incarnation has appeared in five Legend of Zelda games and eventually replaced Young Link in the Smash Bros. roster.

Players may have cried foul at Nintendo’s re-invention of Zelda, but Wind Waker’s character designs did a lot to show the potential of a heavily stylized and animated world full of expressive characters. Just look at the burly Moblins and devious-looking Mokoblins. Both express different properties through subtle touches. The Moblin creates a trail of billowing dust after a fierce swing of his spear. It does well to portray his powerful upper body and imposing form. Mokoblin’s slink around during combat and try to create opportunities to catch little Link off guard. Nintendo nailed the stylized look so well that playing it gave players the opportunity to experience a living cartoon and each character got the full anime treatment.

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Toon Link immediately made his way into the portable line of Zelda games. The art style for Link was used for Four Swords, a multiplayer mode that Nintendo included in the Game Boy Advance re-release of A Link to the Past. And then he slowly moved into other Zelda handheld installments. We saw a similar Link in Zelda: The Minish Cap and again for the GameCube installment of Four Swords Adventures. Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks tied to the original style because they involved the same characters from Wind Waker.

A few games experimented with the animated look before Nintendo. Fear Effect was one of the early console games to inserted cel-shaded characters and animated full-motion video from fixed camera perspectives. Jet Set Radio created a colorful contemporary world on Sega Dreamcast and amplified its unique art direction with a memorable soundtrack. And who could forget the dozens of impressive onscreen missile streams of the lackluster Robotech: Battlecry.

Post 2003, plenty of games adopted the cartoon-ish look and gave birth to new interpretations; from Okami’s elegant use of Japanese ink wash painting (known as sumi-e) to the superhero-like prowess of Crackdown. Recently we've even seen Level 5 and Studio Ghibli collaborate on Ni no Kuni, an visually vibrant RPG for PlayStation 3.

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In the wake of Wind Waker’s animated art style, it’s hard not to wonder what comes next. Nintendo has stayed away from using the same style in another console Zelda. Their follow up game, Twilight Princess, adopted a dark and moody vibe and brought back the adult Link everyone craved from the beginning. But Skyward Sword took a wise next step, one that married the look of the previous two games into a vibrant painterly art style with more realistic, adolescent characters. Can adult Link enhance its animated form into something in line with Studio Ghibli movies? Could it embrace a full on manga design with dark ink lines and hard shadows? Only time will reveal the look of the next Legend of Zelda, as Nintendo continues to quietly work on their Wii U iteration. But regardless of where the art pin falls, hopefully fans have learned to embrace whatever form it takes, simply because, like Toon Link, you never quite know how the long term results will affect the series.

Jose Otero is an Associate Editor for IGN and host of the Nintendo Voice Chat podcast. You can read more of his silly opinions by following him on twitter.